An Iraqi lawmaker from the Sadrist bloc died Thursday in Baghdad from wounds sustained in a bomb blast that struck his convoy, a bloc spokesman reported.
Lawmaker Saleh al-Eikily initially fell into a coma brought on by internal bleeding in his brain. He died before surgery to stop the bleeding could be conducted, Ahmed al-Massoudi, a Sadrist spokesman, told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.
Massoudi said he held US forces responsible for the attack, since the area was supposedly secured by US forces. A US armed forces spokesman said US forces had nothing to do with the attack.
The blast also killed the lawmaker's bodyguard.
Sadrists are loyal to the militant Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Their bloc has 30 seats in the 275-seat parliament.
In separate developments, a bomb went off Thursday inside an Iraqi restaurant killing a policeman and a civilian, according to a police source. Another three people were injured.
The blast took place in the Tal Afar district of Nineveh province, 405 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, VOI reported.
Separately, the director of the Karbala provincial council was killed, while two of his assistants were injured, when a bomb went off inside their car as they were travelling to work Thursday, an official told VOI.
Also in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, witnesses said that an explosion struck a police checkpoint. The number of casualties is still unknown. Karbala is located 110 kilometres south of Baghdad.
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